• Pogogunner@sopuli.xyz
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    18 days ago

    CEOs have not been held accountable for their actions by the legal system. This is inevitable with the way the United States is set up

    • MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      If this happens to two or three more CEOs over the next couple of months, they’ll change their position on gun control, not change their behaviors that made somebody do this. And “they’re coming for our guns” morons would find a way to not only excuse it, but fully support it, at least at first.

      • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        If this happens to multiple CEOs, companies will just implement secret-service style security for the C-suite. Wouldn’t even be a rounding error in CEO compensation.

        • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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          18 days ago

          We really are just a few years away from Cyberpunk, aren’t we? I’d actually say a mix of both that, and Cloud Atlas’ last timeline.

        • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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          18 days ago

          Nah, the US will just provide secret service details to any and all C level execs.

        • islands@lemmy.cafe
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          18 days ago

          I mean having to live in a fortress and being afraid to go into a coffee shop without armed guards is no way to live… it wouldn’t be a fun time for those poor, sociopathic bastards. But I guess having those extra digits in their bank accounts makes up for it?

      • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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        18 days ago

        If this happens to two or three more CEOs over the next couple of months, they’ll change their position on gun control,

        Say what? Nearly every CEO who is willing to talk about firearms is already pushing for more Gun Control with both their words and their money. The obvious exceptions are of course Firearm CEOs and maybe Elon Musk.

        Seriously, have you ever looked at whose funding all of the Gun Control efforts and Politicians in this country? It’s a veritable whose who of Democrat Billionaires and CEOs.

      • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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        18 days ago

        NYS already banned suppressors for the plebes. Only cops can buy them in NYS. And its highly unlikely they had a NYC permit, for carry, only cops get easy NYC permits, and also C execs like this guy who pays off the right people, in the correct amounts.

        So, this means, it must have been a cop that did the shooting. Because it could have been an oligarch with the legal gun, but they couldn’t get a suppressor in NYS.

        • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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          18 days ago

          You can make a pistol suppressor from seamless tubing and steel wool, threaded barrels are not uncommon or controlled. You’ll be missing the booster needed for reliability, and it’s not going to be very good, but expansion chamber volume is expansion chamber volume. Reportedly the shooter had more than one malfunction, which lends credence to a DIY can, or a shitty gun.

          If the goal is murder, another +15 years for NFA violations isn’t a big deterrent.

        • nomous@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          It’s funny you think they’re not. They’ve been dick-riding manufacturers and lifestyle companies for decades. How much “Glock” or “Mossberg” merch have you seen out there? Those are eager corpo shills.

          • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Lol I know exactly who pays into the NRA, they’re just corporate shills now nothing more. They don’t do shit for gun rights and most gun owners want them to desolve.

        • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          They are inadvertently. Corporations say the right words and the pro2a people fall in line. Look at all of the millions of citizens that voted directly against their best interests in November because they’ve effectively been fed messages that made them disregard what actually effects them. Obviously not all pro2a people are in this camp, but there’s a lot of overlap between those folks and people getting manipulated by other rich and powerful forces.

          • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Most pro2a people vote repub because they’re the only ones that remotely say anything pro2a even though they’re completely shit at it. Almost all gun owners are single issue voters. If the dems dropped the anti gun rhetoric they’d sweep elections.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

      Hopefully this makes all those money grubbing assholes consider how many of the millions of people they’ve fucked over have access to firearms and their location.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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      18 days ago

      There’s an interesting book called Narconomics: How to run a drug cartel that goes into detail about why there’s so much violence in the drug world. It all comes down to there not being a legal system where people can peacefully resolve disputes.

      If Pepsi stole Coke’s formula and brand name, Coke would sue them. But if a rival cartel infringes on your territory, you have no choice but to get to murdering.

      Now, I don’t know the motivations of why this healthcare CEO was shot - and I don’t condone violence. But I will say that I see some strong parallels where it feels hopeless from a consumer point of view when dealing with insurance companies. The whole process, including the legal system, seems tailored to take away your power. So I’m not at all surprised that violence has occurred.

  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Thompson, who was named CEO in April 2021, was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai West.

    Good thing he had health insurance for his stay at Mount Sinai; some aren’t so lucky thanks to worthless puddles of filth like this.

    Edit: Zero sympathy. Negative sympathy, even.

    • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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      18 days ago

      Link above to ARS Technica article titled: UnitedHealth uses AI model with 90% error rate to deny care, lawsuit alleges.

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    UnitedHealthcare CEO fatally shot outside NYC hotel in ‘premeditated, preplanned targeted attack’

    premeditated

    preplanned

    Ah, so a preexisting condition. So sorry, law enforcement can’t do anything about it.

  • recapitated@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    It should go without saying that such violence is not good and not supportable.

    That said, I also think those who make monopolistic fortunes off the sick while also dictating refusal of care to the sick are categorically not civilians. It is what it is.

        • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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          18 days ago

          And expect the health insurance industry to act on that.

          Well Mr Johnson. We were looking through your onboarding package with Innertrode and can see you have a 6 year old daughter. We need to put her on the Uvalde plan because she is a child and they are prone to lead poisoning and mass hemorrhages which we won’t be covering. But if she gets the sniffles, we have it covered because you are family. Also we’ll need to talk to you about her reproductive health once she reaches marrying age next year

      • ramble81@lemm.ee
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        18 days ago

        I mean life has a 100% mortality rate, it’s just a matter of when.

        • Logi@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          I’m not sure we have the data to support that statement. 8.2B / 108B = 7.6% of everyone who has ever lived is currently alive. Perhaps some fraction of that is immortal.

      • frostysauce@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Why should this piece of shit get more sympathy than a convenience store cashier who gets shot during a robbery?

        Because the mods get off on simping for the rich it seems.

      • Wogi@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        It’s apparently against community rules to discuss violence in any form.

        So instead let’s talk about giving CEOs bunnies. Everybody loves bunnies and maybe putting a bunny in a CEOs lap will show them the love they are sorely missing.

        Give every CEO a bunny. Give them 20. Give them bunnies while their backs are turned, surprise them with bunnies. Send them bunnies to their homes. Let them y know they are loved even while they’re away from work. Put bunnies in their beds, in their cars. No billionaire CEO should ever turn a corner without knowing a bunny is there waiting. Let the billionaires know the true depths of our love. With bunnies.

      • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        18 days ago

        Violence is the reason every judge tip toed around Trump. Violence is possibly the only factor America will listen to. It’s certainly the only language they speak.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Even well executed and thought out peaceful non compliance only worked after taking a lot of beatings and with a bit of luck.

        And most importantly, with the threat of violence as the alternative.

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Peace can work too, but the Ivory towers types need to learn that ignoring peaceful protest, and undermining accountability and regulation, will inevitability lead to violence. He brought this on himself.

          • nomous@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Improvised bunnies in their cars, high powered bunnies 200 yards away in the bushes.

            They deserve bunnies.

            • Wogi@lemmy.world
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              18 days ago

              You give them to the CEOs, the billionaires.

              Bunnies at every turn. Let them know that they can’t go outside without seeing a bunny. That they will know the love a bunny can give at every breath they take.

        • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
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          18 days ago

          Saying Eat the rich or related phrases is now a removable offense, apparently.

          Hey, mod, explain why you keep removing my posts.

          Down voting boot lickers. Keep it coming.

          Show your colors.

    • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Guillotines and the French Revolution disagrees with you. But good on you to pat yourself on the back with your superior morals.

      • recapitated@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        I don’t know if it’s morals, I just don’t have the stomach for violence. That’s kind of a weird thing to say to a person anyway.

        • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          I just don’t have the stomach for violence

          That’s exactly what rich people are counting on. They want you to roll over and take it up the ass.

          The freedoms you have today were obtained through bloodshed. So I’m not really sure what point you’re making other then you’re not willing to fight for anything.

          So you’d rather give up on everything and fight for nothing. Nice dude.

          • recapitated@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Interesting, are you recruiting me to do something specific with you? Or should we just keep discussing how it’s immoral not to do violence on an extremely public forum?

      • frostysauce@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Fucking hell the mods are on a tear here. How does that boot taste?

        Also go fuck yourself, mods.

    • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      I almost commented that UnitedHealthcare doesn’t have a monopoly, but that’s really only true at a national level. In some US states, they’re the only option.

      The disgusting profits are a product the health insurance industry, they only make money by denying coverage. It’s an environment that encourages human suffering.

      • crapwittyname@lemm.ee
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        18 days ago

        “those who make monopolistic fortunes off the sick while also dictating refusal of care to the sick” is hardly arbitrary, though, is it. It’s quite a high bar to clear, that. It’s rational too, since they do many orders of magnitude more harm than e.g. a death row inmate, whom society is content to destroy.

          • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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            18 days ago

            This man isn’t the system

            This oligarch is the system… This oligarch made the decisions to implement those policies. They are, after all, the CEO.

            • timestatic@feddit.org
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              18 days ago

              Bro you really think the shareholders wouldn’t just kick him out if he didn’t deliver? He’s not the owner of the company and he didn’t implement this political system

      • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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        18 days ago

        Buddy if you think it’s just the left operating this way I have some beach front property in Arizona for a good price.

      • Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
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        18 days ago

        being judgmental towards the only person in the comments being even vaguely critical of murder because you can’t read

      • recapitated@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        It should go without saying that such violence is not good and not supportable.

        I am not celebrating. It’s a tragedy, even if a predictable one. We’ll all do better with a little more cooperation and a lot less greed.

        I don’t like it when people die, or get maimed.

        If I say that I can understand how something like this happens, it’s not out of sympathy for the murderer. It’s just an accounting of facts amidst the fact that billions of people exist so obviously someone is going to be willing to kill for their perceived injustices. Especially when injustices are a lot more concrete than abstract.

        • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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          18 days ago

          It’s a tragedy,

          Technically, and in reality, it’s not a tragedy. Technically, dying from a pre-existing condition as a health insurance exec is a comedy. In reality, it’s a net positive for society.

          • psycho_driver@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Life is a comedy to those who think, and a tragedy to those who feel.

            I’m thinking a lot about this one.

            • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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              18 days ago

              I’d agree. He likely got great comedic value from the people dying as a result of his decisions; and thinks those people being healthy is a tragedy.

      • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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        18 days ago

        The ruling class isn’t a “civilian”, because they literally command armed forces.

        While not always called “armies”, their function is the same: Secure the interest of the capitalist class.

        Just like I wouldn’t call the POTUS a “civilian”, as the POTUS commands an armed force.

  • SuperCub@sh.itjust.works
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    18 days ago

    Insurance companies regularly commit acts of violence on the poor and sick for the benefit of their bottom line. People literally die because of the decisions this CEO made, so when the shoe is on the other foot, don’t come crying because we know you’re not an innocent actor, insurance company.

  • assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Let’s be honest here. This is probably the only way a ceo would ever be punished for crimes against the poor in America. Unfortunately this will probably lead to the increased militarisation of ceo security teams (and the police) rather than a recognition of why someone would want to dome a ceo in the first place.

  • Sludgehammer@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    It’s nice that whomever did this didn’t take their grudge out on a bunch of powerless workers. So often you see someone with a grudge against… whatever end up shooting a bunch of minimum wage employees who had no hand in their misfortune.

  • whyalone@lemm.ee
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    18 days ago

    JD Vance said about school shootings being a ‘fact of life’ Maybe ceo shootings should be equally the same?

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I am honestly surprised people fucked over by health insurance haven’t tried to take things into their own hands before, if that’s what this is. And if that’s not what this is, it surprises me that it hasn’t happened yet.

    Plenty of people (me included) have been severely fucked over by insurance companies. I’m not willing to kill anyone, but there are a lot of people out there who are. Especially if they know they’re dying and have nothing to lose.

    • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      The CEO is an employee, a manager. You know how shops have managers hired by the owners to run the place? If that were the motive, wouldn’t owners be the preferred target?

      • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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        18 days ago

        Did you just say with a straight face that a CEO is simply a middleman who was powerless to change the internal workings of a system?

        • psycho_driver@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          He’s right to suggest that a board of directors should possibly be looked at as equally to blame for a company’s policies and actions.

          • Kalothar@lemmy.ca
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            18 days ago

            They should be, but they are harder to get to.

            I mean sure you want to kill the opposing militaries generals, but a captain or above is nothing to scoff at.

            Besides CEOs are more like a lieutenant or full bird Colonel.

      • noscere@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        A CEO is a CEO. Just because they are accountable to the shareholders does not make them working class. The CEO is the closest thing a corporation has to a singular owner. Their compensation package includes shares (ownership) of the company and they are the ones who make the decisions.

        Literally their “job” is to be responsible for the actions of a corporation.

        • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          Sure, they do make a lot of decisions, no question. However, those decisions are at the direction of a Board of Directors.

          In the same way a manager would be fired if they went against their owners wishes, a CEO is similarly subject to their superiors.

          • krashmo@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            If a CEO has very little authority as you claim then what the fuck are they getting paid all that money for?

            The way I see it they either run the company, in which case they own the blame for a company’s failures, or they are just a figurehead with no real influence, in which case they don’t need to be paid any more than the actors the marketing team hires to be in their commercials.

            • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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              18 days ago

              It’s actually between those two extremes. It’s in the name, Chief Executive Officer. They’re essentially there to execute the will of the ownership. They manage the company.

              edit: To further expand on that, it’s not too different from the executive of a country. While they make a lot of decisions, one thing they don’t deserve blame for is any laws passed by the legislature. It’s not a perfect analogy, but it captures the basic idea.

              • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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                18 days ago

                You are both right, if @Carrolade@lemmy.world is not claiming that a CEO is not responsible for the running of the company - they are the top tier checks of each other, with the board having marginally more power with the ability to oust the CEO.

      • bamboo@lemm.ee
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        18 days ago

        CEOs often are paid primarily in stock, so more than likely this guy had a significant ownership stake.

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        18 days ago

        If the CEO disagrees with the directions of the board, the CEO has a number of options. They can easily be considered culpable.

  • Zannsolo@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    When people are pushed to the point they have nothing left to lose this kinda thing will happen. I’m sort of surprised this kinda of things doesn’t happen more often to people who make their fortunes off the suffering of others.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
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    18 days ago

    I have never had worse “insurance” than when I had United “Healthcare”. They have you a big book full of all their “providers”, but when you called to make an appointment, you were told they’d left United quite a while back and shouldn’t be in the book. A few providers were still in network, but they weren’t accepting new patients. Their “provider support” line was completely useless, because they would only read you out the “options” available in the book, the one with all the ghost providers.

    My SIL in southern New Jersey ended up with them for some reason. She needed to see an OB/Gyn due to some abnormal bleeding that had been going on for too long. She went through their provider carousel and finally found one provider who was still in network and also still accepting new patients. That provider was 2.5 hours away from her, in the very other end of New Jersey.

    I eventually did find one local provider who was in network, except they never did any comprehensive medical visits; you had to visit them for one issue at a time, at least a week apart. They’d give you a prescription or a referral but (once again) you were entirely on your own finding someone to accept the referral. Like there were times I’d make a dozen phone calls a day for weeks, trying to find someone who could see me - it was very much an entire part-time job trying to see someone!

    I ended up switching insurance and have ended up ‘captured’ within a regional hospital’s provider network. The hospital bought up a bunch of local independent providers in all the different specialities. I’m really unhappy with the continued corporatization of healthcare and the conglomeration of hospital networks - but the ability to call one number, be given a specialist within reasonable driving distance and (in that same phone call) be given an appointment within a reasonable timeframe is just so refreshing!

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      I was told by my nexyt door neighbor doctor that they pay doctors such abysmally low rates that no doctor wants to take their patients. It seems like a scheme to collect premiums and not render any care for members. And its one of the largest health care companies in the US.

      • aramis87@fedia.io
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        18 days ago

        I’m pretty sure that’s why that one doctor would only go over one issue per visit.

        • chuymatt@startrek.website
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          18 days ago

          With Molina, we would lose $30 by the time that the patient got in the room. We had to drop them as they refused to reimburse any better, even through all the inflation of everything else.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      in the very other end of New Jersey

      At least she wasn’t in Texas. Might get admitted and still might not get care for that kind of thing.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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      18 days ago

      I ended up switching insurance and have ended up ‘captured’ within a regional hospital’s provider network. The hospital bought up a bunch of local independent providers in all the different specialities. I’m really unhappy with the continued corporatization of healthcare and the conglomeration of hospital networks - but the ability to call one number, be given a specialist within reasonable driving distance and (in that same phone call) be given an appointment within a reasonable timeframe is just so refreshing!

      I haven’t had to test their reaction to more serious issues, where I’ve heard they’re less good, but I’m covered by Kaiser and I like that in a single visit I can get my regular checkup, get my eyes checked, get new glasses, get bloodwork done, get vaccines, and pickup medicine at the pharmacy. For regular care the only thing that would be better if there wasn’t a profit motive involved at all.